South Dakota Sports Betting 2026: Laws, Legal Sportsbooks & Where to Bet

• ✓ Retail only Voters approved sports wagering within Deadwood in 2020; the Legislature limited it to in-person betting.
• ✗ No statewide online There is no statewide online or mobile betting; online casinos and online poker are also illegal.
• 📱 One on-premise app The only app-based option is BetMGM’s, geo-fenced to work only inside a partner casino.
• ⛪ Where Legal wagering happens inside licensed Deadwood casinos and at qualifying tribal casinos.
• ⚑ Regulator The South Dakota Commission on Gaming licenses operators and maintains the approved wagering catalog.

Yes, but only in person. Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2020 that authorized sports wagering within the city limits of Deadwood, and the Legislature limited it to retail betting. Tribal casinos may offer the same wagering under their gaming compacts. To place a legal sports bet in South Dakota, you must travel to a licensed casino. For a full state-by-state breakdown, see our guide to states with legal sports betting.

There is no statewide online or mobile sports betting. Online casinos and online poker are also illegal. The only app-based option is BetMGM’s app, and it is geo-fenced to work only while a bettor is physically inside a partner casino. Under South Dakota law, every wager must be placed on the premises of a licensed gaming establishment.

All legal sports betting in South Dakota is offered by licensed operators inside physical casinos. When the market launched, the South Dakota Commission on Gaming licensed three sports wagering providers: BetMGM, Internet Sports International, and International Game Technology. These are the regulated brands behind the state’s retail sportsbooks.

The other two licensed providers are business-to-business technology firms rather than consumer-facing apps. Internet Sports International (ISI) was one of the first two providers to take live bets on Sept. 9, 2021, launching retail betting at Gold Dust Casino and Mustang Sally’s in Deadwood and powering the Mineral Palace sportsbook; it supplies the betting platform and trading behind the counter. International Game Technology (IGT), the third provider licensed at launch, began taking wagers a few weeks into the fall of 2021, powering the sportsbook at Deadwood Mountain Grand; IGT is a long-established gaming technology company that also holds a South Dakota slot machine license and signed a five-year contract extension with the South Dakota Lottery in late 2023.

Legal Online Sportsbooks in South Dakota

There are no legal statewide online sportsbooks in South Dakota. No national app of the kind available in neighboring states is licensed to take bets from South Dakota residents at home. The only app-based option is the BetMGM app, which functions only inside a partner casino.

Because South Dakota has no legal online betting, many residents look at offshore sportsbooks. These sites accept South Dakota players, but they are not legal or regulated in the United States. They are licensed in places such as Panama, Curacao, and Costa Rica and operate outside the authority of the South Dakota Commission on Gaming. South Dakota law is unusually strict on internet betting: Chapter 22-25A of the South Dakota Codified Laws makes it a felony to operate or establish an internet gambling business that begins or ends in the state. The profiles below explain what these sites are, not as an endorsement. Many are reached from a phone, as mobile sports betting sites.

Four more offshore books accept South Dakota players, none legal or regulated in the United States:

• BetUS — launched 1994, headquartered in Costa Rica and licensed offshore in Curacao, offering sports betting, live betting, a casino, a racebook and specialty markets such as politics and entertainment, plus contests and a six-tier loyalty program with season-long survivor pools and a content hub aimed at newer bettors. Crypto payouts typically complete within a day or two. Like other offshore books, it has drawn occasional complaints about withdrawal delays and bonus rollover terms.
• SportsBetting.ag — operating since the early 2000s, a sister site to BetOnline owned by the same group since 2012 and licensed in Panama, sharing nearly identical lines, markets and a poker pool. Online betting minimums start as low as $1, though credit card deposits carry a fee, and crypto withdrawals usually process within a day or two. When BetOnline acquired the site in 2012, it reportedly paid out $1.5 million that the previous owners had owed players; its main appeal is that bettors can open a separate account and claim its welcome bonus in addition to BetOnline’s.
• XBet — launched around 2013 to 2014, licensed in Curacao and run by the same team as MyBookie, built around a strong mobile browser experience with live betting, a casino and a racebook. Card deposits generally start around $45 and crypto around $25, and new customers are offered a welcome bonus of roughly 50% on cards or 100% on crypto; its casino runs games from providers such as Betsoft and Nucleus Gaming, and crypto withdrawals usually process within a day or two.
• Everygame — the modern name for Intertops, one of the oldest names in the industry, founded 1983 and credited with taking the first documented online sports bet in 1996 before rebranding in 2021. It offers a sportsbook, casino and poker with a low $1 minimum bet and a wide range of markets, supports cryptocurrencies and a long list of e-wallets such as Skrill and Neteller, and runs on the EveryMatrix platform, with welcome offers commonly around a 100% match up to $500. It is geared toward recreational bettors, using standard pricing rather than reduced juice.

Retail sportsbooks are the only legal way to bet on sports in South Dakota. Most are clustered in Deadwood, the only city where commercial casino gambling is allowed, and a handful of tribal casinos offer wagering under their compacts. The two BetMGM sportsbooks, at Tin Lizzie Gaming Resort and Cadillac Jack’s Gaming Resort, stand out as the top retail experiences in the state.

Tin Lizzie Gaming Resort

Tin Lizzie, on Historic Main Street in Deadwood, is home to a BetMGM Sportsbook and hosted the state’s first legal wager on Sept. 9, 2021, placed by Deadwood Mayor David Ruth Jr. The room features a live betting window, kiosks throughout the casino and a large video wall, with an adjacent Irish pub. Betting is cash only, and wagers can be placed at the counter or at kiosks that run 24 hours a day.

Cadillac Jack’s Gaming Resort

Cadillac Jack’s is one of Deadwood’s biggest resorts and runs a BetMGM Sportsbook branded as The Book at Guadalajara’s, with multiple kiosks and writer stations. The property pairs its sportsbook with a large gaming floor, a poker room and several on-site hotels.

Other Deadwood Books and Tribal Sportsbooks

Gold Dust Casino and Hotel launched on the ISI platform on opening day in 2021, in the heart of downtown. Deadwood Mountain Grand, a Holiday Inn Resort property, runs Dale’s Sportsbook Bar and Grill on the IGT platform. Mustang Sally’s was one of the first Deadwood venues to take live bets in 2021 on the ISI platform. The Lodge at Deadwood offers on-site betting through its BetLodge sportsbook, often noted for one of the broader retail menus in town. Mineral Palace offers ISI-powered betting on a historic Main Street, The Landmark offers sportsbook betting in its Adams Room, and the Buffalo-Bodega Complex runs a sportsbook branded BetBodega. Outside Deadwood, Dakota Sioux Casino near Watertown and Dakota Connection Casino in Sisseton, both operated by the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate through the Dakota Nation Gaming Enterprise, run the Dakota Nation Sportsbook and serve the eastern part of the state.

Sports betting became legal through a two-step process that reflects the state’s cautious approach to gambling. The state constitution has long prohibited games of chance, with narrow exceptions, so any expansion requires a constitutional amendment approved by voters. Deadwood itself has allowed commercial casino gambling only since a separate 1989 amendment aimed at funding the town’s historic preservation. In the decades since, the state gradually loosened the rules, adding craps and roulette in 2015 and raising the maximum single bet in stages from $5 to $100 and finally to $1,000 in 2019, the same limit that now applies to sports wagers.

The effort began in 2019, when a bipartisan group of senators advanced a ballot question and a Legislative Research Council fiscal note estimated Deadwood sports betting might generate around $2 million a year, with roughly $185,000 going to the state in taxes. The Legislature placed the measure before voters by passing Senate Joint Resolution 501 in 2020. On Nov. 3, 2020, voters approved Constitutional Amendment B by about 58.5%, roughly 239,600 votes to 170,200, authorizing sports wagering within the city limits of Deadwood, with net municipal proceeds dedicated to historic restoration and preservation.

Lawmakers then wrote the rules through Senate Bill 44 in the 2021 session. The bill limited wagering to in-person betting in Deadwood, and the House rejected an effort to add statewide mobile betting. Gov. Kristi Noem signed the enabling legislation in March 2021, and the Commission on Gaming finalized the sports wagering rules that summer. The first legal bet was placed on Sept. 9, 2021, at the BetMGM Sportsbook at Tin Lizzie, hours before the opening game of the NFL season. With that launch, South Dakota became the 25th state to offer legal sports betting after the 2018 Supreme Court decision that ended the federal ban. The market has stayed retail only ever since, because every attempt to add mobile betting requires another voter-approved amendment.

South Dakota Sports Betting Timeline

• May 2018: The Supreme Court strikes down the federal sports betting ban.
• 2019: Senate Joint Resolution 2 advances in the Senate but stalls in a House committee.
• 2020 session: The Legislature passes SJR 501, placing sports betting on the November ballot.
• Nov. 3, 2020: Voters approve Constitutional Amendment B, about 58.5% in favor.
• March 2021: Senate Bill 44 is signed, limiting betting to in-person wagering in Deadwood.
• June and Aug. 2021: The Commission on Gaming approves the sports wagering rules and initial catalog.
• Sept. 9, 2021: The first legal bet is placed at Tin Lizzie in Deadwood.
• 2022: SJR 502 passes the Senate but dies in a House committee; a companion effort, HB 1148, also fails.
• Oct. 2023: Monthly Deadwood sports betting handle sets a record at about $1.02 million.
• 2023: HJR 5006 fails on a 41-28 House vote; SB 209 (kiosks at liquor-licensed businesses) is introduced; IGT signs a five-year extension with the South Dakota Lottery.
• Feb. 11, 2026: The Senate passes SJR 504 to put mobile betting on the November ballot, 23 to 10.
• Late Feb. 2026: A House committee rejects SJR 504, keeping mobile betting off the 2026 ballot.

South Dakota’s sports betting framework sits within its broader gaming law:

• Constitutional basis: Article III, Section 25 of the South Dakota Constitution authorizes limited gaming and sports wagering in Deadwood. Amendment B added sports wagering in 2020. See the Amendment B summary.
• Governing statute: South Dakota Codified Laws Chapter 42-7B covers limited card games, slot machines and wagering on sporting events in Deadwood, including the rule that bets be placed on the premises of a licensed establishment.
• Enabling legislation: Senate Bill 44 (2021) legalized and structured retail sportsbooks in Deadwood.
• Internet gambling prohibition: South Dakota Codified Laws Chapter 22-25A makes it a felony to operate or establish an internet gambling business that begins or ends in the state.
• Regulator: the South Dakota Commission on Gaming, part of the Department of Revenue, licenses operators, monitors integrity, maintains the approved wagering catalog and publishes statistics.
• The 2026 ballot proposal: SJR 504 would have asked voters to authorize statewide electronic sports betting. See the SJR 504 summary.

Penalties Under State Law

South Dakota is one of the few states with a statute aimed directly at internet gambling. Operating or establishing an internet gambling business is a Class 6 felony for a first offense and a Class 5 felony for later offenses, and each bet that begins or ends in the state counts as a separate violation. For individual players, betting outside a licensed facility is a Class 2 misdemeanor, which can carry up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both. The state has not prosecuted people for placing bets on offshore sites, but the laws are on the books.

Licensing and Fees

To offer sports betting, a Deadwood casino must already hold a gaming license, and the company running the betting system must be licensed as a sports wagering services provider. Casinos also pay an annual license stamp fee of $2,000 for each card game or slot machine.

The South Dakota Commission on Gaming is a five-member commission appointed by the governor, supported by an executive secretary and two divisions, Enforcement and Operations. Enforcement runs background and criminal investigations and monitors gaming activity, while Operations handles compliance and revenue audits and all gaming statistics. Tribal casinos operate under federal law through the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and are overseen by tribal gaming authorities and the National Indian Gaming Commission.

One feature that sets South Dakota apart is its approved wagering catalog. Sportsbooks may only take bets on the leagues, events and wager types that the Commission has approved, and operators must apply to add anything new. The state also licenses the technology behind the books: integrity-monitoring and data firms such as Sportradar and geolocation providers such as GeoComply appear on the Commission’s list of licensed associated equipment providers, which is how the state enforces the requirement that bets be placed inside a licensed casino. Adding statewide mobile betting requires a constitutional amendment approved by voters; because the 2026 attempt failed in the Legislature, the earliest a mobile market could realistically launch is later in the decade.

Licensed operators follow specific rules meant to protect athletes and preserve integrity.

State law also bars anyone closely tied to a sport or to a gaming location from betting. Players, coaches, referees and trainers cannot bet on their sport’s games, and sportsbook employees cannot wager at all. It is also illegal to bet on behalf of someone else or under a false name.

Types of Bets Available

South Dakota’s retail books offer the standard range of wagers within the approved catalog: the moneyline (a straight bet on which team or player wins), the point spread (a bet on the margin of victory), totals (over/under on the combined score), parlays (several selections combined into one ticket, all of which must win), teasers (parlays that let you adjust the spread for reduced odds), futures (long-term bets such as a league champion), props (bets on specific events, subject to the college player prop restriction), and live, in-game bets. Live betting is available at the retail books, with the BetMGM sportsbooks at Tin Lizzie and Cadillac Jack’s offering live windows and kiosks where odds update during games, though the experience is limited by the retail-only model.

Sports and Teams to Bet On

South Dakota has no major professional teams, so bettors tend to follow clubs in neighboring states — the Minnesota Vikings (NFL), Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA), Minnesota Twins (MLB), and Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche (NHL). The most popular wagers cover the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football and basketball, and events such as UFC, golf and NASCAR. Because state law forbids betting on South Dakota college teams and on college player props anywhere, the state’s own schools are off the board, including the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, the South Dakota Coyotes, and smaller programs such as Northern State, the University of Sioux Falls, Augustana, South Dakota Mines and Black Hills State. Junior and minor teams like the Sioux Falls Stampede, the Sioux Falls Skyforce and the Sioux Falls Canaries also cannot be wagered on.

South Dakota’s sports betting numbers are the smallest in the country among states that report data. The retail-only model and the state’s small population keep both the handle and the revenue low. The state publishes monthly gaming statistics and annual reports through the Commission on Gaming.

For comparison, Wyoming, which has a smaller population but allows statewide mobile betting, has reported monthly handle in the tens of millions of dollars. There is concrete evidence that South Dakotans already bet across state lines: during legislative hearings, supporters of mobile betting cited GeoComply figures showing more than 100,000 location pings from within about two kilometers of the South Dakota and Iowa border during the 2025 NFL season, and testimony pointed to tens of thousands of online betting accounts registered to South Dakota residents using Wyoming addresses.

Taxes on Winnings

South Dakota is tax-friendly for bettors because it has no state income tax, so sports betting winnings are not subject to state-level income tax. Federal rules still apply: gambling winnings are generally reportable to the IRS, and payouts above certain thresholds, generally $600 or more when the win is at least 300 times the wager, can trigger federal reporting, with larger prizes subject to withholding. Offshore sites do not issue United States tax forms, which does not remove the obligation to report. On the operator side, the state collects a 9% tax on adjusted gross gaming proceeds, and net municipal proceeds from Deadwood gaming are dedicated to the historic restoration and preservation of the town, with a share of overall gaming tax revenue directed to a state tourism fund and to Lawrence County. This is not tax advice.

1. Travel to a licensed casino. Deadwood has the most options, and tribal casinos such as Dakota Sioux and Dakota Connection serve the eastern part of the state.
2. Be 21 or older and bring valid identification. The gaming floor and sportsbook are restricted to adults 21 and up.
3. Bring cash. Deadwood sportsbooks generally operate on a cash basis, and casinos have ATMs on site.
4. Choose a counter or kiosk. Place a wager with a ticket writer or at a self-service kiosk, and keep your paper ticket.
5. Redeem winners. Present winning tickets at the sportsbook window, the cashier cage or a kiosk to receive your payout.

With more than a dozen retail books, it helps to compare the range of markets, the quality of the viewing area and screens, whether kiosks are available, the players club and comps, and the location relative to where you are staying. Serious bettors sometimes visit more than one book to compare lines, since different providers can post slightly different odds on the same game.

Casinos

Deadwood is the only city with commercial casinos, and roughly two dozen licensed properties operate there offering blackjack, craps, keno, poker, roulette and slot machines, with a $1,000 maximum bet. Beyond the sportsbook venues, well-known Deadwood casinos include the Silverado Franklin, the Historic Bullock Hotel, Saloon Number 10, the Celebrity Hotel, First Gold Gaming Resort, Deadwood Gulch Resort, Hickok’s and the Wooden Nickel. Deadwood sits about 60 miles from Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills. The state also recognizes nine tribal casinos, which may offer the same games under their compacts.

Horse Racing, Lottery, DFS and Online

Advance deposit wagering on horse racing is legal online for residents 18 and older, through licensed racebooks such as TwinSpires and AmWager, with historic live racing in the fall at the Stanley County Fairgrounds in Fort Pierre and an off-track option at Triple Crown Casino in North Sioux City. The South Dakota Lottery offers draw games including Powerball and Mega Millions, scratch tickets and video lottery terminals, sold in person only. Daily fantasy sports are available — the state has not formally legalized or banned them, and a 2015 statement from law enforcement indicated players would not face criminal penalties — through operators such as DraftKings, FanDuel, PrizePicks, Underdog and Sleeper, generally to players 18 and older. Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket operate under federal CFTC oversight, and social and sweepstakes sportsbooks such as Fliff use virtual currencies. Online casinos and online poker are illegal under the state’s internet gambling statute.

Momentum to add mobile betting keeps building and keeps stalling. In early 2026, the Senate passed SJR 504, a resolution that would have asked voters in November to authorize statewide electronic sports betting run through Deadwood-licensed casinos, with 90% of the tax revenue directed to property tax relief. The measure then failed in a House committee in late February, so it will not appear on the 2026 ballot. Two obstacles stand out. First, any expansion requires a constitutional amendment, which means passing both chambers and then winning a statewide vote. Second, a separate measure could raise the threshold for amending the constitution to 60%, which would make future gambling amendments harder to pass. Some Deadwood casino interests also prefer keeping bettors on their properties, and lawmakers have raised questions about how mobile betting would affect tribal gaming compacts. Given the 2026 defeat, the earliest a statewide mobile market could launch is later in the decade.

Betting should stay fun and within your means. If gambling stops feeling like entertainment, help is available.

• National Problem Gambling Helpline: call or text 1-800-522-4700, available 24 hours a day. More at the National Council on Problem Gambling.
• South Dakota Council on Problem Gambling: 1-888-781-HELP (4357), based in Sioux Falls, which refers callers to nearby Gamblers Anonymous groups. See the South Dakota help page.
• 211 South Dakota: dial 211 for information and referrals based on your situation.

This guide was researched using South Dakota state law, the South Dakota Commission on Gaming and Department of Revenue, official casino information, and reporting on the state’s 2026 legislative session, all linked above. Gambling laws change, so verify current details with the Commission on Gaming before you bet. This content is for information only and is not legal, financial or tax advice. If you or someone you know needs help with gambling, call or text 1-800-522-4700.